31,544 research outputs found

    CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry - Plan of Work and Budget 2020

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    There were no significant changes in 2019 to FTA’s theory of change1. FTA plans all its work on the basis of its operational priorities. These, in turn, focusresearch towards major development demands and knowledge gaps, orienting FTA towards the implementation of the SDGs and other global commitments. Three operational priorities were added in 2020 (see list in Appendix 1) to better delineate pre-existing research areas addressing development bottlenecks needing dedicated investment and visibility: smallholder tree-crop commodities, tree seeds and seedlings delivery systems, and foresight. FTA organized in 2019, at the request of its ISC, a joint ISC-FTA workshop on impact assessment methods for the program. Based on the outcomes of this workshop FTA will, inter alia, revisit in 2020 its impact pathways and end of programme outcomes, and if need be, corresponding adjustments to the ToC of FTA and/or of its FPs will be made

    Climate policies for road transport revisited (II): Closing the policy gap with cap-and-trade

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    Current policies in the road transport sector fail to deliver consistent and efficient incentives for greenhouse gas abatement (see companion article by Creutzig et al., 2010a). Market-based instruments such as cap-and-trade systems close this policy gap and are complementary to traditional policies which are required where specific market failures arise. Even in presence of strong existing non-market policies, cap-and-trade delivers additional abatement and efficiency by incentivizing demand side abatement options. This paper analyzes generic design options and economic impacts of including the European road transport sector to the EU ETS. The point of regulation in a road transport cap-and-trade system should be upstream in the fuel chain to ensure effectiveness (cover all life-cycle emissions and avoid double-counting), efficiency (incentivize all abatement options) and low transaction costs. Based on year 2020 marginal abatement cost curves from different models and current EU climate policy objectives we show that in contrast to conventional wisdom road transport inclusion would not change the EU ETS allowance price. This puts concerns over industrial carbon leakage as a consequence of adding road transport to the EU ETS into perspective.Climate Policy, Road Transport, Cap-and-trade

    CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry - Plan of Work and Budget 2020

    Get PDF
    There were no significant changes in 2019 to FTA’s theory of change1. FTA plans all its work on the basis of its operational priorities. These, in turn, focusresearch towards major development demands and knowledge gaps, orienting FTA towards the implementation of the SDGs and other global commitments. Three operational priorities were added in 2020 (see list in Appendix 1) to better delineate pre-existing research areas addressing development bottlenecks needing dedicated investment and visibility: smallholder tree-crop commodities, tree seeds and seedlings delivery systems, and foresight. FTA organized in 2019, at the request of its ISC, a joint ISC-FTA workshop on impact assessment methods for the program. Based on the outcomes of this workshop FTA will, inter alia, revisit in 2020 its impact pathways and end of programme outcomes, and if need be, corresponding adjustments to the ToC of FTA and/or of its FPs will be made

    Large UK retailers' initiatives to reduce consumers' emissions: a systematic assessment

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    In the interest of climate change mitigation, policy makers, businesses and non-governmental organisations have devised initiatives designed to reduce in-use emissions whilst, at the same time, the number of energy-consuming products in homes, and household energy consumption, is increasing. Retailers are important because they are at the interface between manufacturers of products and consumers and they supply the vast majority of consumer goods in developed countries like the UK, including energy using products. Large retailers have a consistent history of corporate responsibility reporting and have included plans and actions to influence consumer emissions within them. This paper adapts two frameworks to use them for systematically assessing large retailers’ initiatives aimed at reducing consumers’ carbon emissions. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is adapted and used to analyse the strategic scope and coherence of these initiatives in relation to the businesses’ sustainability strategies. The ISM ‘Individual Social Material’ framework is adapted and used to analyse how consumer behaviour change mechanisms are framed by retailers. These frameworks are used to analyse eighteen initiatives designed to reduce consumer emissions from eight of the largest UK retail businesses, identified from publicly available data. The results of the eighteen initiatives analysed show that the vast majority were not well planned nor were they strategically coherent. Secondly, most of these specific initiatives relied solely on providing information to consumers and thus deployed a rather narrow range of consumer behaviour change mechanisms. The research concludes that leaders of retail businesses and policy makers could use the FSSD to ensure processes, and measurements are comprehensive and integrated, in order to increase the materiality and impact of their initiatives to reduce consumer emissions in use. Furthermore, retailers could benefit from exploring different models of behaviour change from the ISM framework in order to access a wider set of tools for transformative system change

    Enhancing Brand Equity Through Sustainability: Waste Recycling

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    Unlike many existing research studies that explain reverse marketing from a purchasing perspective, this study recognizes it as an honest effort made by managers aiming to promote sustainability by purposefully managing waste and discusses the spillover effect of their initiatives on brand equity. It argues that efficient recycling of products through reverse marketing by a brand demonstrates its sincere intent to adopt sustainable business practices and enhances its equity in the marketplace. A business-to-business viewpoint has been used to combine knowledge about waste recycling and management through reverse marketing based on the unpretentious operations and management practices. The propositions reflect on the criticality of engaging business customer firms in a procedural mechanism of recycling for increase in brand equity as the success of reverse marketing. A comprehensive adoption of an initiative like waste management through reverse marketing by a brand highlights how sustainability initiatives can create value for the customers of the brand and ultimately drive brand equity

    Navigating Out of the Crisis: A Trade-led Recovery-A Practical Guide for Policymakers in Asia and the Pacific

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    The current economic and financial crisis is an unprecedented challenge for policymakers of the Asia-Pacific region. While the region's policymakers have gained considerable experience in responding to national or regional financial crises, they have less expertise in addressing a crisis that originated in the financial sector and then reverberated throughout the real economy. Governments in the region may benefit from considering other countries' experiences in how to react to sharp reductions in trade, employment and production. In addition, as this crisis has spread globally, the solution will have to be based on a global and coordinated response to limit long-term harm, in particular to the most vulnerable economies. This guide outlines short-, medium-, and long-term trade-related policy tools at the international, regional and national level which Asia-Pacific countries may want to consider both mitigate the impact of the economic crisis and to invest in more resilient economies for the future. This book has 7 chapters (1) National Coordination for a Trade-led Recovery, (2) Maintaining the Supremacy of the Multilateral Trading System, (3) Addressing Trade Financing and Trade Development Constraints, (4) Diversifying Products and Markets for Exports, (5) Enhancing South-South Trade and Cooperation, (6) Promoting Asia-Pacific Businesses for Long-Term Competitiveness, and (7) Looking beyond the Crisis: Positioning the Asia-Pacific Region for the Futureeconomic, financial crisis, Asia-Pacific, WTO, international trade, competitiveness, South-South Trade, export, Diversifying products, Multilateral Trading System, Trade-led recovery

    A Whole-of-Government Approach to Reducing Tropical Deforestation

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    Tropical forests provide critical global and local ecosystem services and habitat for many of the world’s plants and animals. Their loss threatens the sustainable economic growth and social stability of developing countries, and illegal deforestation abroad places U.S. producers at an unfair disadvantage. For these and other reasons, the United States has long been engaged in programs to reduce forest loss. This engagement has recently increased, with the new Presidential Global Climate Change Initiative including a pillar dedicated to slowing forest loss. While promising, this new funding and coordination is insufficient, with a narrow focus on climate-based development assistance. Engaging the full suite of forest policy levers in the federal government, or taking a “whole-of-government” approach, would provide greater immediate impact in preventing forest loss while building the foundations of a working landscape ethic. In this discussion paper, we explore the opportunities to expand U.S. contributions to reducing tropical deforestation through this approach. A whole-of-government approach to international deforestation consists of coordinating and focusing the programs across the federal government that could reduce the rate of tropical forest loss. It is an integrated strategy that employs existing activities and authorities of the U.S. government and directs them under an overarching goal of reducing deforestation in tropical forest countries, while continuing to support other developing-country goals, such as economic development, health, food security, and biodiversity. We identify three major areas where policy adjustments and actions by relevant authorities can have immediate and tangible impact on reducing deforestation.tropical deforestation, forest conservation, U.S. policy, REDD, reducing emissions from deforestation, whole-of-government, environment and trade, forest policy

    An Institutional Theory perspective on sustainable practices across the dairy supply chain

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    AbstractThe need for sustainable practices in the food supply chain, particularly in the area of energy reduction, is becoming acute. The food industry currently has to contend with multiple competing pressures alongside the new challenges of sustainable production. We applied Institutional Theory to explore the role of supermarkets in the development of legitimate sustainable practices across the dairy supply chains. The paper focuses on dairy supply chain organizations and their consumption of energy. We conducted 70 semi-structured telephone interviews with various stakeholders across the supply chain. Findings revealed that the majority of actors in the supply chain identified supermarkets as the dominant player, and that the supermarkets exert pressure on other smaller organizations across the supply chain. Although some organizations wished to pursue a sustainable agenda through integrating new rules and legitimate practices within their own organization, the dominant logic appeared to be one of cost reduction and profit maximization. There was also evidence that supermarkets and other large organizations attempt to replicate publicly available information on green successes for image purposes. We conclude that the dominant logic of cost reduction is so well established that challenging the dominant logic may prove difficult. The challenge is therefore to complement the dominant logic with sustainable practices across the whole supply chain, a role Government needs to play. This will require a broader more systemic approach to encouraging sustainable practices including investment and financing practices, so that all members of the dairy supply chain can co-operate and contribute to energy reduction

    Cost effectiveness of bio-ethanol to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Greece

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    The purpose of this study is to evaluate ethanol cost- effectiveness with regards to carbon dioxide emissions. Actually, bio-fuel production is only viable thanks to the tax credit policy resulting in economic ‘deadweight’ loss. The environmental performance is assessed under the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework. Economic burden to society to support the activity divided by avoided CO2 equivalent emissions indicates the bio-ethanol cost effectiveness. Agricultural feedstock supply that comprises of sugarbeets, grains and industrial processing sub-models are articulated in a regional sector model. The maximization of total welfare determines optimal crop mix for farmers and the best configurations for industry. This is illustrated for bio-ethanol produced by the ex-sugar industry in Thessaly, Greece. Life cycle activity analysis showed that, at the optimum, CO2 emission is reduced between 1 and 1.5 t of carbon dioxide equivalent per ton of ethanol. The unitary cost falls in the range of 100 to 250 euro per ton of CO2 and it is remarkably dependent on the agricultural policy scenario.Cost effectiveness, ethanol, mathematical programming, life cycle assessment, greenhouse gases
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